AMCHA Initiative’s Categories of Antisemitic Activity

1) Targeting Jewish Students and Staff – Incidents that directly target Jewish students on campus or other Jewish members of the campus community for harmful or hateful action based on their Jewishness or perceived support for Israel:

PHYSICAL ASSAULT – Physically attacking Jewish students, or causing them to fear that they are about to suffer physical harm.

DISCRIMINATION – Unfairly treating individuals because they are Jewish.

GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION – Using imagery (eg. swastika) or language that expresses a desire for, or will to, exterminate the Jewish people.

SUPPRESSION OF SPEECH/MOVEMENT/ASSEMBLY – Preventing or impeding the expression of Jewish students, such as by removing or defacing Jewish students’ flyers, attempting to disrupt or shut down speakers at Jewish events, or blocking the entrance to a Jewish student event.

VERBAL ASSAULT – Verbally insulting or abusing Jewish students.

INTIMIDATION – Intentionally frightening Jewish students in order to force them into or deter them from some action.

2) Antisemitic Expression – Language, imagery or behavior deemed antisemitic by the U.S. State Department definition of antisemitism, or wholly consistent with that definition:

HISTORICAL (ANTISEMITISM) – Using symbols, images and tropes associated with historical antisemitism, including by making “mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such, or the power of Jews as a collective-especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, governments, or other societal institutions” (U.S. State Department).

DENYING JEWS SELF-DETERMINATION – Denying Israel the right to exist or promoting the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.

DEMONIZATION OF ISRAEL – Using symbols, images and tropes associated with classic antisemitism to characterize Israel or Israelis, e.g. claims that Israelis are evil or blood-thirsty and deliberately murder children or Jews control the world.

DELEGITIMIZATION (OF ISRAEL) – Insinuating that Israel is an illegitimate state and does not belong in the family of nations.

3) BDS Activity (for more information about BDS and antisemitism, click HERE)- These incidents contain the following activities: